UR2 at UPenn... Why?

I went UR2 at UPenn today and after reading some other posts on this sub the general consensus seems to be that UR2 this early on is a positive sign. My GPA is well below their 25th percentile and my LSAT is at their median though, so I assumed I would be an auto-ding. I have good work/volunteer experience and what I think are a solid personal statement, GPA addendum, and diversity statement, but I can't imagine they'd even waitlist someone with my stats. Did anyone else with similar numbers also go UR2? Is there someone who has done more research than me and can shed some light on what this could mean? The reasonable thing to do would be to get off this sub and just see what happens but I stopped being a reasonable person as soon as I submitted my apps so here we are.

Honestly there is no way to tell. This UR2 wave has included a wide range of people, both RD and ED. It may just be for people who applied before a certain date as opposed to based on certain stats.

The positive sign is that by going UR2 now you are eligible for the first wave of RD admissions which (likely) are next week. That wave is great because it's basically all admits. If you miss that one you have to wait until Mid-Jan when they start interspersing acceptance and ding waves.

Edit: I should add that there is a record of people going UR2 before the first RD wave, missing it, but still getting admitted in January, so it's not the end of the world.

Edit 2: Adressing your stats, which I forgot to mention, like others have said all schools (outside of HYS maybe) have to take splitters. If you're at 170 that's good because they could use you to try and set their medians early, like they do with ED. No doubt they will do what they can to keep that 170 edge they have over their lower ranked peers. That makes you valuable.

This is all great insight, especially about splitters. I went into this process expecting an unpredictable cycle but as more acceptances start to roll out the harder it is to stop worrying about my low gpa haha. Thank you!

Penn, like all schools, accepts a huge range of applicants below their median (hence the existence of a median). If you’re at or above one median, they’ll dip down on the other to grab you if they like you enough.

I'm a (procrastinating) 1L at Penn now. I also had a below-25th percentile GPA, and I'm here to tell you to not to think like that! They need median/higher LSATs just as much as they need good GPAs, and the LSAT median went up for the c/o 2021 anyway, so 170s are even more valuable now. Penn definitely admits splitters, both directly and off of the waitlist. Good luck :)